This month the renovated African Burial Ground National Monument reopened to the public, giving us a spiritual escape in lower Manhattan again. Nestled into a quiet courtyard on Duane Street, this serene monument is made of African green granite. Beneath it, spanning 6.6 acres, thousands of enslaved and free Africans were buried, whose hard labor built the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries, including roads like Broadway and what is now Wall Street. If that doesn’t make you re-imagine the city as you know it, I don’t know what will. Stop by the visitors center around the corner on Broadway to learn more and speak with the nicest park rangers you’ll ever meet.